Ever-increasing challenge = good times

[teachu2die]

i think something along the lines of final master's breakdown could be a good idea, definitely.

[kingvictory2003]

I guess I'm not a "very good" player, having only reached Vor Armory, killing the boss, then getting brought to low HP by orc pyro/cryomancers, teleporting, then getting blown completely away by these black capital D's. But...I've played Angband and many variants for a long time, and I can say that what I find most fun is the OPTION for how much one wants to challenge oneself. Yes, this cannot always happen, i.e. Mount Doom should always be quite a gauntlet (but never impossible). There are times when I just want to slap a few enemies around, and why not? It's not like the midge swarms in Trollshaws and Old Forest are busy leveling themselves while my character is out fighting evil horrors to save the world.

I'm enjoying the level range of dungeons so far, as it allows one to level to an acceptable power level without feeling great dread before stepping into the next dungeon. I've never felt overleveled playing normal mode, with the exception of doing the maze at level 18 after spending an inordinate amount of time in the Old Forest. Granted, I've only gotten to level 40, but that doesn't seem too far off from 50.

Sorry if my post sounded a bit rant-ish, but losing that level 40 shadowblade kinda hurt. I don't like to feel like my life is one button press away from death with every encounter I have, and I'm glad that there are a few areas that don't feel that way.

[edge2054]

The new boss biased exp system is in place in SVN, I spend a few hours playing with it yesterday (cheating death obviously as I am a very bad player ..)
And the general feeling is that it's much nicer while at the same time providing about the same levels in the end. I got up to rak'hor (not killed him) and was level 31 IIRC. It just feels GREAT when you get 2 or 3 levels from the Master, really feels like an accomplishment :=)

You do not get the same exp from an ant and an orc elite berserker of the same level BTW, it's also rank based. I have made the difference bigger now too, with elites providing more exp.

So I just had a trap rob me of some boss XP (beta 13) and it got me thinking about this change going into affect.

Maybe Bosses should give XP to the player regardless of how they die. If the player is on the level when the boss dies he should get xp.

[Final Master]

Maybe Bosses should give XP to the player regardless of how they die. If the player is on the level when the boss dies he should get xp.

But if you didn't do anything proactive against the boss, how did you experience anything? ;)

[BrownianMotion]

Personally, I believe that the exp system is fine where it is. Considering that i have not beaten the game yet, I would like to be prepared before attempting new dungeons and boss fights. But in order to be prepared I would need to gain levels; if non boss npcs give off minimal levels then it would be that much harder to level grind. For new players like me, being at low level would equal certain death. Therefore, I do not feel like being overleved when playing the game at normal mode.

But, for the veterans of this game, you all probably know all there is to this game: the level layout, what type of monsters reside within which vault, the abilities of the bosses, etc. Thus it is understandable that you would want randomization to keep things fresh, or challenges to face in the game. By lowering the exp from non boss npc, you would achieve this challenge; however, it would spell disaster for the rest of us who are just trying to make do.

Being an old SlashEM player, i propose that there should be a new super difficult at the start class. In SlashEM there was this tourist class, which excelled at nothing, having some of the worst intrinsics upon leveling, and starting out with horrible gear. This of course made the game play very challenging at the start, but is rewarding once you ascend with that character.

Not only that but there are also conducts in SlashEM game like: being a vegan, never hit with a wielded weapon, did not wish for artifacts etc. If you feel like this game is too easy, there are always self imposed restrictions.

[Zonk]

Maybe Bosses should give XP to the player regardless of how they die. If the player is on the level when the boss dies he should get xp.

But if you didn't do anything proactive against the boss, how did you experience anything?

Err....you experience a surge of happiness when you realize how lucky you were at not having to face such a terrible foe?